|
|
|
|
Articles: Business | World Economy & Child labour
- Mr. T.R.Sridhar Prasad. Uppalapati.
| |
On the other hand, as the most recent development, the European Commission and the ILO have launched the TACKLE project on the problem of child labour. Announced on June 10, the project is aimed to address this problem in 11 countries from Africa, Caribbean and the Pacific, namely, Kenya, Zambia, Sudan, Madagascar, Mali, Angola, Jamaica, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Guyana and Sierra Leona.
With the total budget of 16 million Euros and a time schedule of 36 months, the TACKLE project aims to contribute to the withdrawal of the children engaged in child labour and to prevent further entry of into employment by alternative education and training opportunities.
What's new?:
1.South-South Cooperation to combat child labour 10 June 2008 - The Brazilian Minister of Labour, Mr. Carlos Lupi, and Indian Minister of Labour, Mr Oscar Fernandes, hold up a red card to child labour and announce their cooperation to combat child labour, particularly its worst forms. Understanding Children's Work: an inter-agency research cooperation project on child labour.
2. First April 2008 - How likely is it that a poor household will send children to work when faced a sudden turn for the worse in its economic situation? A recent paper published by UCW, a joint ILO, UNICEF and World Bank research project, analyzes the effects of crop failure, drought and floods on household decisions about work vs. schooling in rural Cambodia.
3.Global Task Force on Child Labour and Education for All (GTF) -
10 March 2008 - The Global Task Force is an inter agency initiative designed to effectively link work on child labour and education for all.
Children and domestic work:
Throughout the world, thousands of children are working as domestic helpers, performing tasks such as cleaning, ironing, cooking, minding children and gardening. In many countries this phenomenon is not only socially and culturally accepted but might be regarded positively as a protected and non-stigmatised type of work, and therefore preferable to other forms of work, especially for the girl-child.
The perpetuation of traditional female roles and responsibilities within and outside the household, and the perception of domestic service as part of a woman's apprenticeship for adulthood and marriage, also contribute to the low recognition of domestic work as a form of economic activity, and of child domestic labour as a form of child labour.
Ignorance of, or disregard for the risks children might be exposed to in this kind of work is an alarming reality in many parts of the world. It is also one of the reasons for the widespread institutional reluctance to address the issue with specific policies and laws and why the issue has only recently come to the forefront of the international debate as potentially one of the most widespread 'worst forms of child labour'.
Given its hidden nature, it is impossible to have reliable figures on how many children are globally exploited as domestic workers. According to the ILO, though, more girl-children under 16 are in domestic service than in any other category of child labour. Available statistics mostly based on local research and surveys, and certainly only the tip of the iceberg, provide for an alarming indication of the extent of the phenomenon worldwide. Recent IPEC rapid assessments conducted in Asia, Africa and Latin America confirm the overwhelming extent and gravity of this problem.
According to recent reports, for example, some 175,000 children under 18 are employed in domestic service in Central America, more than 688,000 in Indonesia alone, 53,942 under-15 in South Africa and 38,000 children between 5 and 7 in Guatemala.
| Be first to comment on this Article!
| |
|
|
|
 |
| Advertisements |
|
|
|
|
| Advertisements |
|
